


Serenity's Heart

by Regina_Wren



Category: Firefly
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Post-Serenity (2005), Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-07-09
Updated: 2006-07-09
Packaged: 2019-10-09 07:57:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17403053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Regina_Wren/pseuds/Regina_Wren
Summary: Kaylee and River connect through dance, and maybe find something more between them.





	Serenity's Heart

A figure lay in corridor. Her arms and legs were outstretched as though she had been crucified to the floor; only her chest rose and fell softly as she breathed.

"River? What are you doing?" Kaylee asked, stopping at the girl's feet. River's position blocked her entrance to the engine room, and although she could easily have stepped around the sprawling figure, she couldn't help but stop and ask.

"River doesn't exist. There's only serenity." She didn't move as she spoke, and her eyes remained shut as though in sleep.

Kaylee didn't know whether River was meditating and using 'serenity' to describe her state, or whether she had gone back to that assassin, Early, incident in her mind and convinced herself she was Serenity. Either way, Kaylee wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that.

"Shouldn't you be up in the cockpit?" she asked finally.

"Captain's flying," River said simply. She still didn't move, undisturbed and apparently completely comfortable on the cold floor.

"Well, uh... I gotta do some work, so excuse me," Kaylee told her, stepping over River's skirt, then her arm, careful to avoid stepping on her long hair.

The two of them had grown closer over the past few months, and in the short time that Kaylee was with Simon, River seemed to regard her like an older sister. She came to Kaylee to play, and for company, and Kaylee was drawn to her sweet and playful nature. Although River's lucid periods had increased considerably since Miranda, there were times she broke down, and nightmares that still haunted her. Simon and Kaylee did their best to calm her, and strangely, it was often Kaylee that River clung to when she pushed her brother away. No one could explain that, but as long as Kaylee could calm River, no one was complaining either.

Kaylee had stepped into the engine room when River spoke again.

"Serenity likes you."

As odd as that sounded, it made Kaylee smile. She gazed around at the ship, placing a hand on the wall beside her.

"I like her too. She's my girl."

She always felt pride and no small measure of affection when she thought about the ship she kept flying. It was home, and this engine room was its heart. Every piece in this room was familiar, everything precious. Maybe it didn't look like much, but it meant the world to Kaylee, and that made it more beautiful than any other ship in the sky.

The parts she had been cleaning before lunch lay on her work bench, and Kaylee got back to work cleaning out the dust and other gunk. No wonder the back up system sensor drive had been rattling so loud before she got to it.

Behind her the engine hummed soothingly. Further away Jayne was cursing loudly in the kitchen, his voice echoing off the corridor walls, but nothing could disturb the peace in this room. Kaylee began to hum to herself as she worked. At least she and Simon had parted on good terms. He had tried, but after Serenity picked up another young man on Babylon II Simon's true tendencies became obvious to both her and him. It certainly explained a lot. But she believed Simon when he said he really had liked her. It just hadn't been the way they both wanted. In the end, facing the truth was the only thing they could do.

She was so absorbed in her thoughts that it was only River's voice by the door that brought her back to herself.

"Can I come in?" The girl peered around the edge of the door as if hesitant to intrude.

"Sure, you can. Come on in."

River's footsteps were those of a dancer, light, as though she were walking on clouds. Clouds in space. It was nothing like those dancers Kaylee had seen on Persephone though. River was more graceful than any of them.

At least no one had asked Kaylee to dance back then. Even Mal knew more about dancing than she did, and no one could call him a cultured man by any stretch. She would love to be able to dance, to drift across a dance floor with all the grace of a respected lady, and to just pretend to be a part of that glamour once.

Of course they would probably never get the chance again, Kaylee had to admit to herself.

River stopped trailing her fingers around the wall of the engine room and came towards her.

"Miss Kaywinnit Lee Frye. May I have this dance?" she said in a low voice, as though she were imitating a man.

"What?"

"I can teach you," River said, this time in her normal voice, and she reached out for Kaylee's hands.

Kaylee hurriedly wiped them on her overalls.

"Um... okay, sure."

River led her out from the engine to the centre of the small room.

"I gotta warn you though, I ain't never done this before," Kaylee said a little nervously.

"I know. It's okay," River's voice was gentle. "Put your arm up like this and follow my lead."

Beside River's graceful steps Kaylee felt like one of those elephants the people on Zahera used to carry loads. But once she got into the steps it wasn't so difficult. There was a pattern and rhythm to them, like a machine, one piece flowing into the next so that it all ran smoothly.

River's hands touched her gently as they danced: her hip, her hand, her waist, and she explained each step with a demonstration.

At first Kaylee was mainly worried about stepping on River's toes, but as they added more and more steps her confidence grew. She was dancing. She knew the steps, she could follow her partner's lead, mirror her movements.

As they spun around the floor she saw River smile. It was a beautiful smile of pure joy. Kaylee could feel it too. She may not have had the grace but the movements were light and joyful. Skipping and spinning, like children, full of hope, laughter, and joy in being alive. The steps spoke to Kaylee of running through a forest on a warm afternoon, and racing the neighbour's boy through a dry field. Memories she had almost forgotten: sun-heated rocks under her feet, climbing trees to jump into the lake below, days of carefree fun. There was youth and innocence in the dance, and Kaylee revelled in her body, breathing, moving, dancing in space.

It made her smile too.

Again and again they danced, reliving the same steps over and over. River looked so beautiful when she smiled. As long as they danced her eyes shone, she laughed with delight, and any hint of madness vanished. In those moments Kaylee saw clearly an image of the child River had once been before The Academy, and the beautiful woman she would grow into if only given the chance. For a few moments Kaylee wanted to dance forever so that River would never stop smiling.

River's arms encircled her waist and they laughed as they spun, motion and emotion carrying them. Then they parted again, and curtsied to each other as they came to the end of the dance again.

"You sure are a great teacher," Kaylee told her, breathless now from the energy.

River's cheeks were pink and her eyes sparkled. "Let's do it again."

Kaylee laughed. "Sorry. Gotta catch my breath first. I ain't as fit as you," she said, leaning against the engine.

It was perhaps just as well she was leaning on something when River kissed her, or she may have stumbled in surprise. It was only a quick kiss and Kaylee was still blinking when River stepped back again.

"River likes you too," she said earnestly. "She wants to be your girl too."

The bluntness of that confession didn't help Kaylee find any words.

"River..." She searched River's face for signs of madness. Perhaps this was just another of her games. There was no way to tell for sure. If she was playing or worse, descending into madness again, that was understandable. But if she was serious, then what? They got along well normally, and Kaylee liked her well enough, but did River realise what she was saying?

"Kaylee is the sun, gives warmth, makes River shine." River seemed to be having trouble articulating what she wanted to say. At last she simply said: "Makes River want to be as close to her as Simon was."

At least River wasn't hesitant about saying what she felt, or what she thought she felt. Kaylee stared at her, at once seeing all River was in front of her: the child, the patient, the sister, the fugitive, genius, broken, lonely, growing woman, mad, and confusing.

"Sometimes I don't know what the make of you," Kaylee said. "I don't know who you are."

"Sometimes I don't know who I am either." River looked so lost when she said that, and Kaylee's heart melted.

"Come here." She beckoned for River to come into her arms. Whatever else she was, she was still River, human underneath it all, playful and warm-hearted. And she was honest.

River's hair was soft to touch, and her thin body trembled a little in Kaylee's arms. But it felt good to hold her like this, to be this close to her.

"I want to dance with you more," River said at last.

Kaylee smiled. "I'd like that. I liked dancing with you."

River stirred and stepped back to look at Kaylee. She really was beautiful, Kaylee thought, remembering the first time she had seen her, sleeping in the infirmary. Maybe Kaylee could just wait and see what happened. She certainly didn't want to push River away.

River's face softened. "There's a lot more to teach you," she said.

"Well, I'll need lots of practice," Kaylee added.

"Maybe even a few times a day?"

"The more, the better."

River's smile could have eclipsed the sun for its radiance. She needed to smile like that more often, Kaylee decided. A lot more often.


End file.
